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Park land for sale?
The city's proposed Land Use Map released in Spring of 2006 suggested that part of Bicentennial Park could be put up for sale. emails from Friends of Bicentennial Park to city planners and others got a quick correction! Nice work! An editorial in the Anchorage Daily News also made the case to withdraw the suggstion that we should be selling off park land.
The following email from Tom Davis clarifies the current situation. Tom is the planner overseeing Anchorage's new Land Use Plan Map.
June 29, 2006 I am a planner with the Municipality assigned to the Anchorage Bowl Land Use Plan Map project, and received from Cheryl Richardson a forwarded copy of an email that you sent raising concerns about the “Special Study Area” designation. I want you to know that I appreciate that people like you are on the watch for protection of local open spaces. I just wanted to make a friendly clarification with you regarding Bicentennial Park and several other areas. To clarify: The June 5 Issue-Response draft Land Use Plan Map no longer depicts Special Study Area line overlay in the Campbell Tract / Bicentennial Park. You can see this latest draft at: http://www.muni.org/planning/Land_Use_Map_PHD.cfm. TheSpecial Study Area overlay which had been applied to this area in a previous draft wasnot intended to indicate that future institutional/open space use in this area was in question. However, people found the line overlay here to be confusing and so Planning recommends its removal. I am also trying to get the word out to concerned people that the Spenard Beach Park, Kincaid’s Little Campbell Lake and Sisson Loop areas are not designated as Special Study Areas in the draft Land Use Plan Map. They are designated for continued park and/or natural open space use. They have a special green-blue line pattern for park uses on Airport property which has been clarified in the map legend of the June 5 draft map online. The northern Connors Bog special study area in the draft LUPM is currently International Airport property. It is not municipal land. The designation on that site was intended to indicate that future ownership of the land is in question. It was not the intent of the map to indicate the existing wetlands/lake and ski-joring use area along the lake may be going away. I recognize my work on the draft probably should have been clearer on this and I am working on it. Municipal lands designated by adopted plan as parks but that are shown on the draft LUPM as special study areas basically include parts of Section 36 and some municipal Heritage Land Bank lands in Hillside Potter Valley Vicinity. These areas appear on the June 5 Issue-Response Draft of the Land Use Plan Map. I hope this
clarification is helpful. If you or anyone else you
know has any questions about this let me
know. |
The city is looking at zoning changes city-wide to implement the Anchorage 2020 Comprehensive Plan. This opens the door to all kinds of things, good and bad. A part of the process is developing a Land Use Map that gives the big picture. That map is going to through a process of "concept approval" through the Planning & Zoning Commission and then on to the Assembly.
The narrative accompanying the Land Use Plan Map proposes
selling land designated mostly for parks. 
"Special Study Area
There are several public land parcels for which a specific use
has yet to be identified. These areas are subject to a
site-specific land use study before use designation or
development. The Land Use Plan Map depicts these areas as Special
Study Areas using a diagonal line pattern.
This
designation also includes municipal lands that have been
designated for future park use, for which disposal of a portion
of the property may be warranted to provide funding for
development of park facilities, pursuant to the appropriate plan
amendment procedure."
This is for real! Take a look at page 12 at: http://www.muni.org/iceimages/Planning/Anchorage%20Bowl%20Land%20Use%20Plan%20Map%20Narrative.pdf
The map at the right shows land just north of the BLM land as
a "Special Study Area." This part of the Park is in the
control of Anchorage's Heritage Land Bank. The HLB typically
holds land for sale or to meet other Municipal goals.
> The page with the presentation on the proposed Land Use Plan
Map is here:
> http://www.muni.org/planning/Land_Use_Map_PHD.cfm
>
If you have a problem with selling off part
of Bicentennial Park, this is a good time to let that be known.
Let these people know how you feel:
>
> Community Planning & Development WWCPD@ci.anchorage.ak.us
>
This website is
maintained by Friends of Bicentennial Park to provide
information on Anchorage's Far North Bicentennial Park.